Wave Staff and Wire Reports
LOS ANGELES — The death of two people at the hands of federal immigration agents — one in Northridge and one in Minneapolis — sent hundreds of demonstrators to the streets this past weekend.
A coalition of civil rights activists led by Najee Ali gathered at 9 a.m. Jan. 10 to call for the arrest of the officer who fired the shots Jan. 7 that killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis. An hour later, they were joined by groups including Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, which bills itself as bringing “together clergy and lay leaders of all faiths with the marginalized, the unheard, and the least protected — low-wage workers and immigrants — in strategic campaigns for dignity, justice, and a more sacred and just society.”
“Remember this is not new. We’ve had ICE now, we’ve had them in L.A. for the last year, and we saw many, many times overuse not only of deadly force against some, but we’ve also seen an agency that’s been out of control,” Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of Los Angeles Urban Police Roundtable, told CBS LA during the protest.
The Rev. Thomas Carey, the retired vicar of the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights, told the station, “My heart absolutely bleeds about this, but underneath all of that, it’s like there is a river of community support that is underneath the surface of governmental violence.”
A National Day of Action protest in Pershing Square downtown was a dual rally against the Trump administration intervention in Venezuela and the shooting deaths of Good and Kevin Porter Jr., a Northridge man who was killed on New Year’s Eve by an off-duty ICE agent after he fired a rifle into the air to celebrate the new year.
Protesters marched through the downtown area to City Hall and past the Edward Roybal Federal Building, leading to the closure of streets in the area.
Other demonstrations were held around Southern California, including Long Beach, Woodland Hills and Pasadena.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass added her voice to those of other leaders denouncing the Minneapolis shooting.
“The senseless killing of an innocent and unarmed wife and mother by ICE agents in Minneapolis is shocking and tragic and should never have occurred,” Bass said in a statement. “And it happened because of the brutal and racist policies of the Trump administration that unleashed these agents in Minneapolis to go after a specific population — Somalians.
“Our hearts go out to the family of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, who was the mother of a 6-year-old child. Make no mistake, this new wave of ICE agents descending on American cities is a purposeful campaign of fear and intimidation by the administration meant to distract from Trump’s cruel policies that have tanked the economy and are impacting everyday Americans who can no longer afford basic needs like health care, rent, utilities, medicines, and groceries,” Bass added.
“Violence like this does not exist in isolation — it undermines public safety and strikes at the very foundation of our democracy. It’s atrocious, it’s dangerous, and it’s un-American.”
Good was killed by an ICE agent who fired into her moving Honda Pilot SUV during an immigration operation.
The events leading up to the shooting are still in dispute a week later.
Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, wrote on social media Jan. 9 that Good was “impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle against @ICEgov.”
“The officer dutifully acted in self-defense,” McKaughlin wrote.
According to the New York Times, “When agents approached her SUV on foot and demanded that she get out, Ms. Good disobeyed and began to drive away. A video analysis showed that Ms. Good’s vehicle appeared to be turning away from the officer who opened fire.”
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles County, wrote on social media, “Federal agents are justified in using deadly force to defend their lives. A vehicle is considered a deadly weapon. Do not drive at an officer. It’s dangerous and you will also be charged with a felony.”
Porter, 43, was fatally shot shortly after 11:30 p.m. Dec. 31 in Northridge by an unidentified ICE agent. The DHS issued a statement saying the agent “bravely responded to an active shooter situation” and “exchanged gunfire with” Porter.
Local activists, however, said Porter was not an active shooter, although he was firing a weapon into the air to celebrate New Year’s Eve — a practice routinely condemned by law enforcement officials.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called for an immediate investigation into the Good shooting.
“Oversight Democrats are demanding answers on what happened,” Garcia wrote on social media.
State Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, said, “It is long past time for ICE to withdraw from every city in this country.”
“ICE is carrying out violent and warrantless armed raids in our neighborhoods, using aggressive tactics, and spreading fear that follows entire families,” Durazo said in a statement. “None of this makes our communities safer.”
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Good’s actions an “act of domestic terrorism” and part of an escalating trend of assaults and attempted attacks on immigration agents nationwide. She said an ICE agent was injured by Good’s vehicle and treated at a hospital.
Widely aired video from the scene, however, does not appear to show anyone being struck by Good’s SUV as she attempts to drive away from agents.
Assemblyman Mark González, D-Los Angeles, issued a profanity-filled statement, calling the claim that Good used her vehicle as a weapon “a cowardly lie meant to justify a cold, reckless … disgusting abuse of power and a complete disregard for human life.
“The fatal shooting of Renee was a public execution, not self-defense,” González said.
President Donald Trump defended the actions of the agent who opened fire.
“I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” Trump wrote on social media. “It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”
Activist Najee Ali said the shootings of Good and Porter “are not isolated incidents.”
“They reflect a dangerous pattern of excessive force, poor judgment, and a lack of accountability that is costing innocent people their lives,” Ali said in a statement. “We are coming together to mourn, to demand truth and to
call for justice.”
During the City Council meeting Jan. 9, several members discussed Good’s shooting, with Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez saying Porter’s death should not be forgotten.
“What happened to Keith Porter also deserves our attention, especially when it involves federal ICE agents who operate with almost no oversight and a long history of violence followed by denial,” Hernandez said. “This happened in our own backyard, and silence is not an option.”
Hernandez then introduced Porter’s mother, Franceola Armstrong, who described her son as a man with a wonderful soul and big heart.
“He didn’t deserve this,” Armstrong said. “He was on his way back. He didn’t even get to pop the champagne. He didn’t get to say goodbye. I just want to touch my baby one last time, kiss his face and hold him.
I don’t have him,” she added. “His life was snatched from us. Lord, please, I just wish you could get justice for my child.”
Joseph Williams of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles also spoke to the council and condemned Porter’s shooting and the lack of any criminal action against the ICE agent.
“We know that in this city, law enforcement shootings by LAPD have increased by, what, 70% last year, and there has been very little if any accountability in any of those cases,” Williams said. “The fact that Keith Porter’s murder was not arrested and [ordered] to give up his service weapon on that very night is unacceptable.”
A candlelight vigil was held for Porter Jan. 10 in Carson Park.
